(The following article by Jere Downs was posted on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on April 12.)
PHILADELPHIA — As SEPTA approaches the Thursday night deadline to negotiate a new contract with its largest union, the transit agency continued talks yesterday with Transport Workers Union Local 234.
As early as 12:01 a.m. Friday, all bus, subway and trolley service in the city would shut down in the event of a strike by TWU Local 234. The 13 Regional Rail lines, paratransit service, also known as CCT Connect, and Lucy shuttles in University City will continue to operate.
A shutdown would also stop service on 18 bus routes in Bucks and Montgomery Counties.
SEPTA suburban service on its Victory Division in Delaware County and parts of Montgomery County would also continue, with some service such as the Routes 101 and 102 trolley lines operating only in the suburbs.
SEPTA and TWU Local 234 representatives continued negotiating yesterday at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza in Center City. Health-care premiums, and SEPTA’s demand that veteran union employees help fund them for the first time, are at the center of the knotty talks.
SEPTA is asking that the 5,000 Local 234 employees contribute up to $112 a week to help pay for health care, TWU Local 234 president Jeff Brooks said yesterday. Union members, who have already yielded benefits such as paid sick time, and wage and pension increases over the years, vehemently oppose helping SEPTA pay for health-care premiums, he said.
“We are on a collision course,” Brooks said in an interview. “SEPTA still has not spoken of any wage increase.”
SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney declined yesterday to discuss specifics of the talks.
“There is still time for an agreement to be reached,” SEPTA general manager Faye Moore said in a statement.